Re: Laptop suggestions?

On Wed, 2008-10-22 at 13:31 -0700, Jeremy Chadwick wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 01:06:20PM -0700, Nate Eldredge wrote:
> > On Wed, 22 Oct 2008, Gary Kline wrote:
> >
> >> On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 01:06:29PM +0200, Dag-Erling Sm?rgrav wrote:
> >>> martinko writes:
> >>>> I have always thought that Fn key in left most bottom corner of the
> >>>> keyboard is, especially for programmers, a very bad idea. :-(
> >>>
> >>> Seconded. Worse still, on my Lenovo T60, if the Fn key is held down
> >>> longer than a fraction of a second, it generates an input event which
> >>> just happens to correspond to Gnome's default key binding for the "next
> >>> track" function in media players...
> >>
> >> I've seen that Fn key, but don't know what it is for. What? you press
> >> it, then follow with the integers [ 1, 2, 3 ... ]? At any rate, maybe
> >> you can remap the key with ~/.xmodmaprc.
> >
> > Fn is usually used on laptop keyboards to allow two logical keys to share
> > a single physical key. For example, see the keyboard pictured at
> > http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/3415.jpg . On the extreme lower
> > right is a key with "->" in white and "End" in blue. Pressing it by
> > itself sends the keycode corresponding to an ordinary keyboard's "->"
> > key. Holding Fn and pressing that key sends the keycode corresponding to
> > an ordinary keyboard's "End" key. On many keyboards, pressing Fn by
> > itself sends no keycode at all, so it cannot be remapped.
> >
> > It is also sometimes used to control hardware features which on a desktop
> > machine might have a different interface. For instance, on the laptop
> > pictured, holding Fn and pressing F6 would increase the screen
> > brightness, probably without sending a keycode. A desktop machine would
> > probably have a button on the monitor itself to do this.

Thanks for clearing up a back-of-mind mystery since I bought my 600E in
2003;
I kept hitting the "Fn" for the ^ key, and *nothing happened* so I had
to re-type the control sequence. It is an ill-planned layout and I'm
sure that 'BM has heard about it from us hacker types. --Why this is
the best list in the (known) universe. Seriously.
>
> I always figured "Fn" was a good name for the key, given that it
> resembles the expletive that comes forth from my mouth when intending to
> hit Control.

That ain't that much of a joke, Jeremy. unless I'm at my desk with
wrist-rest I can barely reach the back keys. [shoulder problems]. So
far I've invented around 7--maybe 8--new profanities.

BTW, if that jpeg is a Lenovo, is that a scratch-and-sniff pad below the
mouse buttons? (The TPad's *did* need a redesign, but for me, the
trakmouse/trakstick/<> was perfect. My left paw went right
there.) ...FWIW, I just bought a G41 (3.06GHz) pre-Lenovo.

Re: Laptop suggestions?

On Wed, 2008-10-22 at 13:31 -0700, Jeremy Chadwick wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 01:06:20PM -0700, Nate Eldredge wrote:
> > On Wed, 22 Oct 2008, Gary Kline wrote:
> >
> >> On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 01:06:29PM +0200, Dag-Erling Sm?rgrav wrote:
> >>> martinko writes:
> >>>> I have always thought that Fn key in left most bottom corner of the
> >>>> keyboard is, especially for programmers, a very bad idea. :-(
> >>>
> >>> Seconded. Worse still, on my Lenovo T60, if the Fn key is held down
> >>> longer than a fraction of a second, it generates an input event which
> >>> just happens to correspond to Gnome's default key binding for the "next
> >>> track" function in media players...
> >>
> >> I've seen that Fn key, but don't know what it is for. What? you press
> >> it, then follow with the integers [ 1, 2, 3 ... ]? At any rate, maybe
> >> you can remap the key with ~/.xmodmaprc.
> >
> > Fn is usually used on laptop keyboards to allow two logical keys to share
> > a single physical key. For example, see the keyboard pictured at
> > http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/3415.jpg . On the extreme lower
> > right is a key with "->" in white and "End" in blue. Pressing it by
> > itself sends the keycode corresponding to an ordinary keyboard's "->"
> > key. Holding Fn and pressing that key sends the keycode corresponding to
> > an ordinary keyboard's "End" key. On many keyboards, pressing Fn by
> > itself sends no keycode at all, so it cannot be remapped.
> >
> > It is also sometimes used to control hardware features which on a desktop
> > machine might have a different interface. For instance, on the laptop
> > pictured, holding Fn and pressing F6 would increase the screen
> > brightness, probably without sending a keycode. A desktop machine would
> > probably have a button on the monitor itself to do this.

Thanks for clearing up a back-of-mind mystery since I bought my 600E in
2003;
I kept hitting the "Fn" for the ^ key, and *nothing happened* so I had
to re-type the control sequence. It is an ill-planned layout and I'm
sure that 'BM has heard about it from us hacker types. --Why this is
the best list in the (known) universe. Seriously.
>
> I always figured "Fn" was a good name for the key, given that it
> resembles the expletive that comes forth from my mouth when intending to
> hit Control.

That ain't that much of a joke, Jeremy. unless I'm at my desk with
wrist-rest I can barely reach the back keys. [shoulder problems]. So
far I've invented around 7--maybe 8--new profanities.

BTW, if that jpeg is a Lenovo, is that a scratch-and-sniff pad below the
mouse buttons? (The TPad's *did* need a redesign, but for me, the
trakmouse/trakstick/<> was perfect. My left paw went right
there.) ...FWIW, I just bought a G41 (3.06GHz) pre-Lenovo.

Re: Laptop suggestions?

Gary Kline writes:
> I've seen that Fn key, but don't know what it is for. What? you press
> it, then follow with the integers [ 1, 2, 3 ... ]? At any rate, maybe
> you can remap the key with ~/.xmodmaprc.

They're used to access keys which won't physically fit on a laptop
keyboard, such as the numeric keypad, NumLock, ScrollLock etc., and
(along with function keys) to control hardware-specific functions like
switching between internal and external display, turning bluetooth and
wlan on and off, adjusting the backlight brightness, etc.

Re: Laptop suggestions?

Gary Kline writes:
> I've seen that Fn key, but don't know what it is for. What? you press
> it, then follow with the integers [ 1, 2, 3 ... ]? At any rate, maybe
> you can remap the key with ~/.xmodmaprc.

They're used to access keys which won't physically fit on a laptop
keyboard, such as the numeric keypad, NumLock, ScrollLock etc., and
(along with function keys) to control hardware-specific functions like
switching between internal and external display, turning bluetooth and
wlan on and off, adjusting the backlight brightness, etc.